News - July 2008

Hello there. Hope you enjoy the summer! It seems there is a lot going on with the Dark Balance bands, so here we go:

THY MAJESTIE had a great time again during the Fear Dark festival in Holland, Switserland and Germany. They played some new songs of the coming album 'Dawn' and their fans like these new tracks very much. On the 1st of September 'Dawn' will be available everywhere, make sure you get one! Also, THY MAJESTIE will be in Holland again in November 2008 on Brainstorm Festival. DVD recordings will be made, so make sure you won't miss this! Check out www.brainstormfestival.com for all info. For the real fans: Singer Dario Cascio agreed to an endorsement deal with "Revolt", a clothing company based in Palermo.

Good news for all UK fans of BOLTDOWN. The Newcastle guys will do some great shows soon in Wakefield, Sunderland, Ipwich and last but not least Newcastle upon Tyne. Make sure you check them out! Halfway through October BOLTDOWN will enter the studio again to record some new demo material. With this material BOLTDOWN will look forward to a new full length release.

MENA BRINNO seems to be on the move all the time. First of all they released a cover of the Judas Priest classic, Metal Meltdown. You can find it on the myspace of MENA BRINNO or download it through itunes. Second is that MENA BRINNO and drummer, Tom Klinesmith, have parted ways due to creative differences. Both MENA BRINNO and Dark Balance wish Tom the best. MENA BRINNO has found a talented replacement for their upcoming shows and recording in drummer, Jeff Thal (a DEEPER DOWN). Jeff is excited to be helping out MENA BRINNO and looks f orward to many great experiences with the band. Last but not least is that MENA BRINNO will come to Europe in November to play on the Brainstorm Festival. Check out www.brainstormfestival.com.

Oliver Grosshans (MY DARKEST HATE, ex - SACRED STEEL) joined the guitar section of THY BLEEDING SKIES. He played the first shows with the band last June. Oliver, welcome to this great act! If you don't have the album of THY BLEEDING SKIES called Chapters of Downfall yet, check out their myspace as TBS uploaded a second song called 'Curveball'.

News - May 2008

Doesn't good come with bad? At least in case of Thy Majestie, it does… bad news is that the release date of their new album is postponed until the 1st of September 2008. Good news is that you can now listen to one song that will appear on 'Dawn'. Just visit the myspace site of Thy Majestie, Dark Balance or the Fear Dark festivals - where Thy Majestie will play - and you will hear the track 'Day of the changes' off the forthcoming work.

'Dawn' consists of seven full tracks plus 'The Legacy Suite', a 16-minutes ride through Thy Majestie's style divided into five tracks, a small story worth noticing! So the complete track list is:

Chapter one: Trapasso - Exequies of the formal sphere
As you Fall
M.A.D.
Dawn
The Hunt

Chapter Two: Rovina - The neverending night
The Legacy Suite:
Of Pain and Disgrace
To an Endless Devotion
Inferis Armata
Two minutes of Hate
The Legacy
Out the Edge

Chapter Three: Vendetta - A new Dawn
Day of the Changes
Though Heat and Fire

If you live in Holland, Germany or Switzerland make sure you come to see Thy Majestie live end of May or beginning of June. Check out the dates on the Dark Balance website or in the band's myspace agenda.

It seems that good and bad comes at once too for Immortal Souls. They had to cancel their USA dates for this summer. Main reason is that it didn't work to find more venues to play. Hopefully summer 2009 will give Immortal Souls new options. Good news is that Silent Music released 'Wintereich' on the 1st of May for the South America market.

News - April 2008

Seems there is a lot to tell… so let's start right away:

Good news for all hard music fans in Finland and Hungary, the Dark Balance titles are now available through Firebox (Finland) and Lethal Conflict (Hungary). If you live in another part of the world there will be a way to buy the Dark Balance titles. Check out the links section. You can also tell your local supplier that their albums are available through Code7/Plastic Head Distribution (UK).

It seems that a lot of bands are on tour in the next weeks. BOLTDOWN will do some shows across the UK, THY BLEEDING SKIES travels through Germany, Holland, Czech and Switzerland and last but not least THY MAJESTIE will go to Finland. You can find all dates and locations on www.myspace.com/darkbalanceofficial.

Music is the key, so yes, there are some new tunes to hear! 'Chapters of Downfall' of THY BLEEDING SKIES will be released on the 5th of May. On the 6th of May the French website www.heavylaw.com will stream this album entirely. Make sure you check this out and don't forget to get your own copy! Besides this a new track from TRAGODIA's stunning debut album 'The Promethean legacy' is available for streaming on the band's myspace. To listen to 'Downfall of the ancients' and two other previously uploaded tracks off 'The Promethean legacy' just visit www.myspace.com/tragodia. Enjoy the gothic downfall!

The album of THY MAJESTIE has a small delay and the new release date is set on the 7th of July 2008. The title of the album will be 'Dawn' which is a logical choice according to the line-up changes and evolution of their music as you can hear on the new album. Good news for all Dutch fans: it seems THY MAJESTIE will be part of the Fear Dark festivals again like last year. Make sure you won't miss this!

IMMORTAL SOULS is still looking for further shows in the USA to make their tour into a success this summer. If you are a booker and like to set up a gig for the Finnish guys, or if you have tour ideas for this summer and you like to have IMMORTAL SOULS with you on the road: get in contact now!

News - February 2008

Seems there is a lot of news to tell:

First of all, Dark Balance is happy to expend their roster with the band THY BLEEDING SKIES. This melodic death/trash act with four German's and one guy from Finland in the line up will release their debut album 'Chapters of Downfall' on May the 3rd 2008. Claudio A. Enzler (MY DARKEST HATE, SACRIFICIUM) started some jamming back in 2006 with his close friend JJ Kontoniemi (ICON CLAN) out of Finland. Ideas were born and soon Claudio found a second and third guitar player in Wolfgang Nillies and Robert Krizek and a bass player in Patrick Uhlmann. You can listen to a track now on www.myspace.com/thybleedingskies. Also THY BLEEDING SKIES will tour with OBED (Colombia/Venezuela) through Germany, Czech, The Netherlands and Switzerland in April 2008, make sure you won't miss them!

Dark Balance is constantly working on expanding their distribution network and we are happy to announce that we found a distribution partner for the UK. Code7/Plastic Head will make sure all Dark Balance products are available now in the United Kingdom and even in other regions. If you live in the UK and your searching for a Dark Balance title in your local shop don't hesitate to tell the owner of the shop that they can order it at Code7/Plastic Head.

Video clips… yeah, that's always cool. In January of this year, TheHardWay released the video clip 'The Lone Green Valley' of MENA BRINNO. Now you can check it out on Youtube and Myspace again! Also, rumors are going around that Boltdown will release their first video clip soon, so keep attention!

Last but not least we want to remind you about the coming up release (3rd of March 2008) of BOLTDOWN called Omnicide. Make sure you order your copy now at your local shop, or directly trough Dark Balance. To listen to some tracks of the album go to: www.myspace.com/boltdown. Boltdown will tour through the UK in April, see their myspace for more details.

News - December 2007

THY MAJESTIE and BOLTDOWN signed to Dark Balance

Italian classic power metal act THY MAJESTIE and upcoming death/trash act BOLTDOWN of the UK signed with Dark Balance.

The 4th full length album of THY MAJESTIE will hit the stores at the beginning of June 2008. Fans of THY MAJESTIE can expect some musical changes compared to their previous discs 'Jeanne 'D Arc' and 'Hastings 1066', still it will be very much the sound of THY MAJESTIE, according to the words of Dario Cascio. "The band went through harsh times lately, especially with the loss of Giuseppe Bondì on the keyboards, but they say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and in fact we feel we have grown up a lot through this past year! The songs we chose to include on the forthcoming album are 8 BOMBS, we are terribly excited about them and we're confident that the next one is gonna be the best Thy Majestie release so far!". If you can't wait until the release of the album, you might get the chance during one of the live shows of THY MAJESTIE before the release to hear some of the new material. So far THY MAJESTIE is confirmed for the UK Prog Power edition in March 2008, besides this they will come to Finland, Holland, Germany and Switzerland for sure. Just keep an eye on their tour dates (www.thymajestie.com or www.myspace.com/thymajesty) and you will be informed about this soon!

'Omnicide', first release of Boltdown will be released on the 3rd of March 2008. This album was scheduled for release through Hangmans Joke records September 2007. Sadly the owner committed suicide, and the release had to be delayed until a new label was found. Finally, this long awaited release will become available to the public! Mixed and Mastered by Scott Atkins (STAMPIN GROUND guitarist, did productions for BLINDSIGHT, ROMEO MUST DIE, etc) you can expect a quality thrash/death album with distinctly aggressive vocals and ferocious riffing in the vein of CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, AS I LAY DYING and DARK TRANQUILITY. You can listen to three full songs of 'Omnicide' here: www.myspace.com/boltdown. Beginning of April 2008 the Newcastle lads will tour through the BeNeLux and the UK with Dutch killer death band DETONATION and partly IMPIOUS and partly ROMEO MUST DIE as headliners.

Dark Balance is very proud both bands want to cooperate. It expands the roster of the label to six bands as MENA BRINNO, TRAGODIA, IMMORTAL SOULS and PICTURE OF THE MOON are already signed. Following are updates on the bands:

TRAGODIA announce that vocalist Carlo Bellani is no more part of the band. Carlo felt the necessity to fully concentrate on other musical projects that, for the time being, are too demanding in terms of time and energy. The new male vocalist will be Stefano Roncadori, a supremely talented singer already known for his work in the synth-rock band D_VINES. Stefano is already prepared to handle the vocal duties in the forthcoming gigs of TRAGODIA in December and January. Welcome on board, Stefano!

MENA BRINNO female vocalist Katy Decker returned back to the USA after a short but nice press tour through France, Holland, Switzerland and the UK. Soon you can watch Katy as special guest in the December edition of the digital video program 'The Hard Way'. Just check out http://www.thehardway.tv/ from time to time to see if 'Episode 5' is there. Besides the appearance of Katy it will release the first video of MENA BRINNO 'The Lone Green Valley'.

News - November 2007

Even though Christmas is still some weeks away, Dark Balance and Heavylaw.com would like to present you with a special early gift! Both MENA BRINNO 'Icy Muse' and TRAGODIA 'The Promethean Legacy' will be available for a listen session! Saturday, November 3, TRAGODIA's debut album, "The Promethean Legacy", is there for streaming in its entirety at heavylaw.com. Released on October 1, the CD was mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios. First reviews describe it as an interesting gothic/doom/progressive mix worth checking out.

Sunday, November 4th you can listen to MENA BRINNO's debut 'Icy Muse' released as well on October the 1 st. This album received some great reviews yet (hardharderheavy.de 6/7, metalfan.nl 75/100, lordsofmetal.nl 88/100) and their gothic sound formed in Florida, USA is getting known more and more. The album entered this week on the top selling album list of The End Records, USA ! Don't miss this chance to listen to it!

News - October 2007

'Icy Muse' of MENA BRINNO and 'The Promethean Legacy' of TRAGODIA available now!

October the 1st both 'Icy Muse' of MENA BRINNO and 'The Promethean Legacy' of TRAGODIA are released by Dark Balance. MENA BRINNO from Tampa, Florida, USA is an exciting new band in the genre of SIRENIA, WITHIN TEMPTATION, EVANANESCENCE, LEAVE'S EYES and IMPERIA. TRAGODIA is an Italian band carrying the flag of gothic-gloom metal since 1996. Their decadent sound can be described as an original blend between gothic, progressive and heavier metal with male/female vocals in the vein of PARADISE LOST, AMPORHIS, FLOWING TEARS and BESEECH, in a dreamy entwining of Beauty and Tempest.

MENO BRINNO recorded their album in the legendary Morrisound studio, Tampa, Florida, and the art work is of the hands of Eliran Kantor (DETONATION, THE OLD DEAD TREE, TO-MERA, AGHORA). 'The Promethean Legacy' of TRAGODIA is mastered at the Finnvox Studios, Helsinki by Mika Jussila. Both albums come with a 8-page 8 full colour booklet and O-card around the jewel case. You can get your copy now though The End Records Distro (USA), Amazon.com (worldwide), Masterpiece Distribution (Italy), TWS Music (Germany), World Chaos (Japan), Displeased (BeNeLux), in the Metalzone shops in Belgium and The Netherlands and of course direct from Dark Balance!

Right now we are working on shirts of both MENA BRINNO and TRAGODIA. Get in contact with DARK BALANCE if you are interested in buying a shirt of these bands, or from IMMORTAL SOULS and PICTURE OF THE MOON. We accept Paypal!

Last but not least we want to inform you about the upcoming gigs of PICTURE OF THE MOON. Friday October 5th 2007 they play as last minute booking on the famous PROG POWER fest in Baarlo, The Netherlands. Other acts that will perform at this fest are JOHN OLIVA (the voice of SAVATAGE), ALCHEMIST, CIRCUS MAXIMUS, ORPHANED LAND, SIEGES EVEN and much more. Also PICTURE OF THE MOON is selected for the Aardschok METAL BASH 2007, the most known band contest of The Netherlands.

News - September 2007

New Songs Released…

The release date of MENA BRINNO's debut full length 'ICY MUSE' and TRAGODIA's 'THE PROMETHEAN LEGACY' is getting close. Both albums will hit the market on October 1st. You can listen now to a second full track of both albums if you visit the bands myspace sites. Read on to find the links! Also its go to know that if you order products of Dark Balance you can pay now with PayPal. Get in contact for information!

MENA BRINNO
'ICY MUSE', the debut full length of MENA BRINNO, will be an exciting new album of gothic rock / metal. With the commanding voice of former opera singer Katy Decker and the virtuoso guitar picking of Marius Kozlowski it's just a masterpiece! Art work is done by Eliran Kantor (DETONATION, THE OLD DEAD TREE, TO-MERA, AGHORA). 'ICY MUSE' is recorded in the legendary Morrisound studios in Tampa, Florida. 'ICY MUSE' the title track is now released on the myspace of MENA BRINNO: www.myspace.com/menabrinno

TRAGODIA
The first full length release of TRAGODIA called 'THE PROMETHEAN LEGACY' gives you a fresh mix of gloom, gothic and progressive metal. Started over ten years ago the band, TRAGODIA, already earned some respect with there MCD release 'ALL OUR MISERIES' back in 2002 as they became demo of the month in both Grind Zone (Italy) and Metallium (France) magazines. In 2006 they entered the studio again and now it's time to present 'THE PROMETHEAN LEGACY'. Just visit their new designed website www.tragodia.com and also check out their myspace to listen to their second full track available of the new release: 'THE WRECK OF HOPE'. Myspace: www.myspace.com/tragodia

PICTURE OF THE MOON
'Happy Birthday to you!', PICTURE OF THE MOON celebrate their sixth anniversary this month. Because of this, you can find a second song of their EP release 'AGELESS DAY' called 'BLACK ROSES' on their myspace. Give it a try and send a birthday card to them! Myspace: www.myspace.com/pictureofthemoon

IMMORTAL SOULS
Finnish masters of winter metal will do a weekend tour in some days through Holland, Germany and Switzerland. Make sure you won't miss them as they will play a lot of new songs of 'WINTEREICH'. Also, there will be shirts of WINTEREICH for sale, so make sure you check out their merch booth! Besides this check out their myspace site as they uploaded a second song of WINTEREICH called ‘CONSTANT’! Myspace: www.myspace.com/immortalsouls

News - July 2007

Good news about our bands…

It seems the world turns around and so do we. Here you have an update about the progression of our bands:

IMMORTAL SOULS
The new album 'Wintereich' of the Finnish masters of winter metal will be licensed through FACEDOWN RECORDS exclusive for the USA and Canadian market. Release date is set on 21th August 2007. It seems we all (IMMORTAL SOULS, DARK BALANCE and FACEDOWN) are very happy about this. If you live in the US check out the website of FACEDOWN (www.facedownrecords.com) for pre orders. We have also good news for the European fans: IMMORTAL SOULS is coming over in September for a mini tour to The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. As soon as the dates are confirmed we let you know!

PICTURE OF THE MOON
As you may have heard these progressive guys said goodbye to Sjoerd Kolk and introduced Alex Rosenhof from Germany. We wish Sjoerd the best and welcome Alex as the new lead gitarist! If you haven't seen the brand new look on the website of PICTURE OF THE MOON: check out www.pictureofthemoon.net.

MENA BRINNO
USA, Tampa based gothic metal act MENA BRINNO is in the studio right now to record songs for their full length. The album will be titled 'Icy Muse' and release date is set on October 1st 2007. Some studio pics can be found in the picture section on the myspace of MENA BRINNO. Besides this MENA BRINNO will perform on the 6th of July with CIRCLE II CIRCLE! You don't want to miss this gig if you live in Florida! For all the European fans: right now we are setting up an European tour, see more info about this under 'TRAGODIA'









TRAGODIA
Italian gloom/goth/prog metal act TRAGODIA will hopefully tour Europe in autumn 2007. Right now we are busy to set up a tour from 26 October 2007 until 04 november 2007 together with MENA BRINNO (USA) and the heavy gothic masters from Taiwan: SERAPHIM! As soon as dates are announced and confirmed we let you know! Right now the idea is to cross The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France or Germany again. If you are a promoter and like to set up a gig get in contact today with DARK BALANCE!

News - May 2007

IMMORTAL SOULS and TRAGODIA signed to DARK BALANCE

After signing PICTURE OF THE MOON and MENA BRINNO two months ago,
DARK BALANCE doubled their artist roster with signing Finnish melodic death act IMMORTAL SOULS and Italian gothic/gloom act TRAGODIA. Both bands exist for over ten years and DARK BALANCE is happy to sign these bands as they both already have important roots in the metal scene. The new album of IMMORTAL SOULS is titled ‘WINTEREICH’ and will be released on the 1st of June 2007. Release date for the first full length of TRAGODIA is set on 1st of October 2007. Some weeks later TRAGODIA will tour through Europe together with MENA BRINNO (USA) and SERAPHIM (Taiwan).

TRAGODIA started back in 1996 and created so far a demo and an MCD in 2002 titled ‘All our Miseries’. The band played doom/death metal in the beginning, but because of line up changes their music transformed over the years into a sound that can be described as a combination of gothic, gloom rock and progressive metal. You can listen to a sample of their forthcoming album on their myspace: www.myspace.com/tragodia.

IMMORTAL SOULS started back in 1991 and released so far two other full lengths, a compilation double disk and some EP’s and demos. With the third full length ‘WINTEREICH’ the four masters of IMMORTAL SOULS exceed their selves with the finest blend of melodic death and black metal and ice cold frostiness lyrics and artwork.
Also, IMMORTAL SOULS will tour through Europe autumn 2007.

News - March 2007

Its seems the metal world can welcome a new label: DARK BALANCE, based in The Netherlands. The label wants to support upcoming artists/bands if their quality of music is worth noticing.Since the label is all about metal without any particular subgenre, any band with some Metal roots is welcome. First release will be of the Dutch progressive Rock/Metal band PICTURE OF THE MOON. This Release is produced by Joost van den Broek (AFTER FOREVER) and contains three songs. After their appearance up to the semi-finals during the Metalbattle 2006 PICTURE OF THE MOON is getting known in the club scene in The Netherlands. Release date of the EP with the title 'Ageless Day' is set on the 1st of June 2007.

Besides this DARK BALANCE has also signed Tampa, Florida (USA) based Gothic Rock/Metal act MENA BRINNO. It's a new band set up by KATY DECKER and MARIUS KOZLOWSKI. Female opera vocalist KATY DECKER appeared for many years in the opera houses in the USA, like the Orlando and Atlanta opera. MARIUS KOZLOWSKI – originally of Zabrze, Poland – played in different bands before and was invited for guest participation in COUNCIL OF THE FALLEN. MENA BRINNO will enter the studio this summer to complete their first full length. This release will appear in the second half of 2007, and probably after this MENA BRINNO will go to Europe for a tour.